


Happy Birthday Lance!

by Anime_fangirl823



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance's Birthday, M/M, Sad Lance (Voltron), What Was I Thinking?, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-18 12:55:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15486225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anime_fangirl823/pseuds/Anime_fangirl823
Summary: Keith tries to give Lance the best birthday ever, but things just don't go the way he was expecting.





	1. Keith's surprise

Today was Lance’s birthday, and Keith wanted to do something special for him. He had noticed the team had been ignoring and pushing the blue paladin away the last couple of days, the way he had treated him the day he got back wasn’t the best way to handle things either. He had noticed Lance not being himself, training and spending a lot of time hold up in his room. And from what Allura had told him about Kuron, he could tell Lance needed, no deserved to have a good birthday.  
He talked to Coran about finding a planet similar to earth. The atmosphere, the grass, and of course water; it all had to be perfect. Coran knew of one planet, the planet they had found the green lion on.  
The paladins stopped off at a planet, not too far from the jungle planet, to rest. “Hey Lance, don’t leave yet,” Keith called over the com.  
Lance groaned, “Why, what did I do this time?”  
“Will you just shut up and follow me.” Keith took off in black.  
“What… Keith, wait.” He stuttered, jetting after him with red.  
The boys flew through space, everything going exactly how Keith had planned, except for Lance’s whining of course.  
Keith took in a deep breath, imagining what it was like for Lance while he was gone. How it felt not having anyone to really talk to, oh Keith knew that feeling all too well. “Hey Lance, could you shut up for a minute, I have something I want you to he…” He was cut off by a large explosion.  
When he looked up, he realized the explosion had come from red, the Lion just floating there, motionless. “LANCE!” He yelled. “LANCE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?”  
“Y-yeah I’m here, but red’s not doing so hot, She got hit pretty hard.” Lance’s voice was like music to Keith’s ears.  
“It’s alright Lance, I’ll help you.” Keith maneuvered his way over to red, but the second he grabbed hold, black was shot from behind sending, both lions and paladins, spiraling through space.  
Lance was yelling things in Spanish over the com, and Keith was trying to pull them out of the spiral. It was no use, warning sirens going off in the background, controls weren’t quite working, and he could feel blood trickling down his face. But all of that was the least of Keith’s worries, as black ejected him.  
He was now falling through the air, he wasn’t too far from the ground, but he knew it was still going to hurt. He braced himself for impact.  
Lance was screaming when he felt black let go. All he could see was green as red fell from the sky.  
His eyes fluttered open, everything was quiet, smoke filled the cabin causing him to cough. There were no lights everything was dark, except for a bit of light coming through the exit. He rolled himself onto the floor, still trying to bring himself to, and crawled out.  
Lance had finally caught his breath, trying to rub away the splitting headache he’d gotten from the fall. He suddenly remembered he came here with someone, “Keith can you hear me... Keith are you there... Keith?” No reply. “Dammit Keith, where are you.” Anger mixed with worry clouded his voice. “AAGHH, I’m useless, I couldn’t even help during that fight, I’m so useless, I’m… I’m…”  
“Amazing.” A voice called over the com.  
Lance clambered to get his helmet, his hands slipping not once but twice before finally pulling it to his face. “Keith, is that you buddy? Please tell me you’re alright.”  
Keith pulled himself up to sitting position on the tree behind him, looking down at the gash running down the side of his leg. He chuckled, “It’s going to take more than a leg wound, a fall from, I would say 20 stories, going at about 25 meters per second squared, to get rid of me.”  
“Wait wound, what wound?”  
“It’s nothing, but I have no idea where black is, she ejected me before we hit the ground.” Keith took in another deep breath, “Lance, I need you to find black and get us out of here.”  
Lance laughed, “That’s funny, for a minute there I thought you told ME to find the black lion. What would I even do if I found her hmm, she wouldn’t let me pilot her, I tried once remember?”  
“Lance I hate to break it to you, but I physically cannot find black, you are our only hope, and with red out of commision, our only option is you flying black. Just believe in yourself, you’re an amazing pilot Lance McClain, don’t you ever doubt yourself.”  
Blushing, his laugh was a bit more forced this time, Keith could hear the pain in his voice, “You don’t know what you’re talking about Mullet, I’m just the guy that gets blown up.”  
“I heard otherwise from the rest of the team, seems you’re getting really good at piloting red, she really likes y…” Keith paused, pain shooting up his leg and into his body, breath hitching.  
“Keith… are you okay?” Lance’s voice shook.  
There was a long pause before, “I’m fine, but I need you Lance, I need you to fly black, I need you to get us out of here, I can’t do this without you.”  
“Okay, I’ll do it, but I don’t think it’s going to work.” Lance began to move. He knew he had to get high up, that way he could cover more ground at once. He ran through the trees looking for a mountain, or a hill, even just a really tall tree he could climb, until he stumbled upon a waterfall.  
“What’s your... status Lance?” Keith was starting to sound worse, his voice growing hoarse, and his breathing erratic.  
“I just hit a large waterfall, I’m going to climb to the top and try to use it to find black.”  
“And to think… all of this happened… because I wanted to surprise for your birthday.”  
Lance froze, he had completely forgotten it was his birthday. He wiped the tears from his rosy red cheeks as he began his climb, using his pack to jet himself further between each gap. “So samurai… has Allura told you… about my new… bayard form?” He asked in between jumps.  
“No, she hasn’t.” Lance could hear his smile through the com.  
“It’s just… an Altean broadsword… no biggie. Oh and… it’s way bigger… then yours.”  
“But I have two now,” He chuckled.  
One last jump with the pack and Lance was at the top of the falls. “You know, if we weren’t in danger right now, this place would actually be amazing.” He breathed in the fresh smell of summer rain, reminding him of his life back home. God, he missed his family, the rain, and earth, he even missed the Garrison. “Hey Keith, do you think we’re going to make it home?”  
“Of course we will.” He replied. “Have you made it to the top? Can you see black?”  
Lance looked around, searching the treetops for any sign of black. Finally, he had found her, off in the distance next to a river. “I see her, she’s next to the river up ahead.”  
“That’s great Lance…” Keith paused, “But… ” Keith was staring down a Galra ship, he didn’t think they had seen him, but it was only a matter of time. “Lance, please hurry, I don’t know how much time I have left.”  
“What? Keith what are you talking about… come on Mullet talk to me.” The com went silent, so Lance did the only thing he could think, he got a running head start, before jumping from the cliff. He used the pack to slow himself before he hit the ground, rolling a couple times before getting back to his feet and continuing his run. “Don’t worry Keith, I’ll be there soon, hang in there.”  
Keith pulled himself up, shutting his com down. He had to find somewhere to hide, he couldn’t let them find him. He found a stick thick enough to support his weight and looked around for a safe place to hide, eyes settling on a small moss covered cave about fifty meters away.  
Keith turned his com back on, “Lance… are you there?”  
“Keith, you’re back, are you okay?” The way he spoke made Keith choke. He could hear the worry in his voice, the tears being choked back.  
“Lance, I’m fine, I just had to get to this cave before the Galra found me.”  
“Galra!” Lance cried.  
Keith positioned himself up against the wall of the cave, sliding down until his butt hit the ground. “Listen to me Lance, I need to tell you this in case something happens.”  
“Keith stop you’re scaring me.” His mind started racing, what if he couldn’t get black to open up? What if he couldn’t get to Keith in time? What if…  
“I want to tell you a story... about my number one favorite pilot in the universe.”  
He didn’t want to hear a story, especially not about a pilot, he just wanted to know Keith was safe, “Quit changing the subject Mullet, tell me you’re okay.”  
Keith ignored him beginning his story, “A long time ago, there was a boy, he was small, but wanted so badly to be a pilot, to travel through space. He found the courage to go to the Galaxy Garrison but had problems with the simulators, and his crew. Then one night his whole life is changed, he was launched into space in a giant robot lion, he was determined, but a bit cocky.” Tears began forming in the corners of his eyes. “But one day, this pilot seemed to lose himself, the others started to break him down, pushing him away and snapping at him, but instead of quitting, he only tried harder. Became stronger, faster, agiler, and pushed his team to do their best.”  
Lance, still running through the forest hearing the sound of running water up ahead, had his head hung low, tears mixing with sweat staining his cheeks. He just had to run a bit longer, just reach black and he would be able to save him.  
“He helped stop the destruction of the universe, he’s truly amazing. He is by far the best pilot around, and I’m so glad I get to call him my right-hand man, and my best friend.”  
Lance stopped, dropping to his knees in front of black, he could have filled this entire river with all of the tears he’s shed. He looked up to the large black lion, “Listen black, Keith is my best friend and your paladin, and right now… he really needs our help.” Lance took in a deep breath, looking straight into the lion's eyes. “Please help me save him.”  
A low growl erupted from black, as her mouth opened. Lance stepped in and sat at the controls. He was hesitant to reach for them, remembering the last time he tried.  
Keith sat in the cave, listening to the footsteps around him, there must be at least twenty of them out there. He tried to quiet his breathing, but it was too late. A hand reached in and grabbed him by the neck of his armor.  
“Ah ha, I found you.” It was Sendak. He flipped Keith to the ground, causing his helmet to go flying off into the distance.  
Lance sat inside black, arms outstretched, hands hovering just over the controls. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice, but it wasn’t Keith. He heard Keith yell before the com went silent. Lance grabbed the controls with everything he had and cried, “I NEED TO SAVE KEITH, PLEASE!”  
The cabin illuminated in an amethyst hue, the sound of the lion coming to life shook through Lance’s core, she had finally chosen him to pilot her. He was finally able to say he was black paladin Lance.  
Keith could feel himself slipping in and out as Sendak stepped closer to him with every passing second. He thought about Lance, he thought about how he failed to give Lance the best birthday ever and instead made it the worst. He didn’t even care that he could barely keep his eyes open, he didn’t care that he might die, all he cared about, was getting to see that stupid grin again, to hear those cheesy pick-up lines, even if they weren’t directed towards him, he just wanted to see him one last time.  
“Are you ready to die, paladin?” Sendak sneered, grabbing Keith around the throat. “Too bad there’s no one here to save you.” Sendak lifted Keith from the ground, his feet dangling uselessly as he struggled to free himself from the Galra grip.  
Suddenly the ground began to shake, a sound so deep it shook the very core of the planet. Keith recognized the deep growl as the black lion. Lance had done it, he was flying black, just like Keith knew he could. Black opened her mouth and let out a deep roar, causing Sendak to let go of his neck, Keith dropping to the ground with a thud.  
Sendak jumped out of the way, as black charged at him, stopping only when standing over Keith. A voice came out, loud and confident, “Back off Sendek, or black and I will have to stick you through a wormhole.” Keith chuckled, giving of that sweet smile he had reserved only for lance.  
“This isn’t over Paladins, we will meet again,” Sendak snarled.  
The Galra retreated, thank god it had only been a small ship, and not a battleship, that landed. They probably wouldn’t have made it out of there if it had.  
Black knelt down opening her mouth, Lance running out arms outstretched, the light from the nearest star shown down on this planet similar to the sun back on earth, illuminating Lance’s gorgeous blue eyes, the depth of colors under this light reminded Keith of little oceans, he could get lost in them if he wasn’t careful.  
As Lance ran towards Keith, he remembered the talk he’d had with Shiro in red the other day.  
“Hey Shiro, you like men right?”  
Shiro spits out his drink, “Y-yes… what brought this up?”  
“Well I really like girls, but lately all I can think about is… Keith. Keith and his stupid mullet, Keith and that damn smile I only ever see when he’s with me. Is that weird? Am I weird Shiro? How can someone like both girls and guys, I’m a freak.” Lance’s eyes were swelling with tears.  
Shiro sat in front of Lance speaking in his softest tone, “Lance, you are not a freak, it’s just called being bisexual, you’re not alone. If you want to like girls cool, if you want to like Keith, then like Keith, it’s your choice not everyone else’s. Sometimes what you want and what you need, are two totally opposite things.”  
Lance wiped the tears from his cheeks, now smiling ear to ear, “Thanks Shiro, you have no idea how much I’ve needed to hear that.”  
Lance Jumped on Keith, wrapping his arms around Keith’s muscular chest and squeezing as hard as he could. Keith laid his head on Lance’s shoulder, still struggling to catch his breath.  
“How dare you scare me like that Mullet.” Lance cried.  
“I’m so sorry Lance.” His arms came up around Lance’s back, pulling him closer. “But, we have to… get red… and get out of here.” Keith managed to choke out. His voice almost non-existent at this point.  
“Can you stand?” Lance asked, finally pulling away.  
“Yeah, as long as you… support me.” The pain was all starting to flush in at once, now that his adrenaline had finally dropped. He could feel everything, even the cut on his forehead he had forgotten about.  
Lance helped him to the black lion, sitting him up against one of the control panels. He could tell Keith was barely hanging on, so he started to panic.  
“Lance focus,” Keith said. “Don’t worry… about me… let’s just get out of here.” Keith’s gaze dropped to the floor. “Sorry I ruined your birthday, I wanted it to be the best, but it turned out to be the worst.”  
“Says you.” Keith looked up, those ocean eyes staring into his soul. “Keith, I finally got to see grass and water, I got to climb the side of a mountain and feel the mist on my face, and the best part was finally getting to fly black. If you hadn’t brought me here, I never would have gotten to do those things, it’s sucked being in the situation we were, but I wouldn’t trade this for the universe.” Keith sat shocked, Lance’s eyes meeting the amethyst eyes of the black paladin “Look, Keith, It took me a long time to figure out my feelings for you were more than just a friendship, but when I talked to Shiro, everything kind of fell into place. He helped me realize that what I wanted and what I needed, were two totally different things, What I needed was you..” Keith couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move, he could barely breathe. “You always had my back, you were the only one I could be vulnerable with, the only one I could show my true self to, and the only one that’s made me feel like I’m going to have a heart attack everytime I see you.”  
“Lance, I... " Keith's eyes were heavy, he could barely keep them open at this point. "Lance... I need you to know..."  
"Save it Keith," Lance interrupted, "For when you get better." Lance looked over at Keith, His body was limp, no sounds or movements meant he had passed out. "Please don't die on me Mullet, I have too many things to tell you." With his eyes already swollen from all of the crying, he would need a major skincare treatment tonight, he picked up red and headed back to the others.


	2. Get some rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance freaks out until Keith wakes up, then Keith says some things.

It had been two days since the jungle planet incident. Luckily they had saved a healing pod from the castle before it was blown up because Keith was in pretty bad shape when they finally made it back.

Lance paced around in black, red still out of commision, every once in a while looking over to the healing pod controls. He was starting to get anxious, maybe it was the lack of sleep, or perhaps the way Keith’s hair fell over his calm face. He tried not to think about Keith, he tried not to think about what it would be like to touch Keith’s hair, always so soft and inviting.

“How long is it going to take him to get better,” He groaned. “It’s already been two Quintants, his leg should be healed by now, right?” 

“Just give him time Lance, he had some head trauma as well,” Shiro said over the com.

“What if it was worse than we thought? What if I didn’t make it back in time? Do you think he lost to much blood? Maybe…”

“LANCE!” Everyone yelled.

Allura’s voice sounded this time, “Lance, I’m sure Keith will be fine, just don’t overthink it.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Lance conceded.

He sat back at the controls, it felt amazing to be flying the black lion. He had tried to give her back to Shiro before they left, but he declined and told Lance he deserved it. So here he sat, flying the black lion, waiting for Keith to wake up and just a bit tired. He took off his helmet, cutting off the connection to the others and closed his eyes.  
“If I just rest my eyes, no one will notice.”

Lance opened his eyes, a bright light filtering in through blacks screen. He could suddenly hear the sounds of explosions, filled in with the faint sound of screaming coming from his helmet. He watched the green lion explode, sending shrapnel flying through yellow, Hunk screaming in the background before going silent. He tried to yell for Allura, but just before he could get out the words, blue was gone, turned into dust by Lotor and his version of Voltron.  
He looked back to the healing pod behind him, tears in his eyes, “I’m sorry Keith, I never should have closed my eyes, I shouldn’t have fallen behind so much, maybe I wasn’t ready to be the team leader.” A flash of light and then…

“Lance… wake up… you’re having a bad dream.” Lance jolted awake, nearly knocking Keith to the floor. “Hey, calm down, it's Keith, I'm here.” Keith’s voice was so soft, softer then it had ever been.

When he finally stopped to take some deep breaths, he looked at the screen. Green, yellow and blue, were just up ahead of them, Lotor nowhere in site. Suddenly Lance’s brain clicked. “KEITH!” He shouted, jumping on him unexpectedly. Keith fell to the ground with a thud and an “Oof!”, wrapping his arms around the lanky blue paladin.

“You’ve gained some muscle while I was gone, haven’t you?” Keith claimed, slowly moving his hand up the boys back.

“S-shut up,” Lance blushed. He pushed himself up off the ground, grumbling something in Spanish under his breath.

Keith stood up as well, “So… do you wanna talk about the dream?”

“No, w-well maybe, it was all kind of hazy,” Lance replied, turning away from Keith. “Long story short, Lotor came back from the dead and blew everyone up, all because I decided to rest my eyes for a minute, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again…”

“Lance calm down, how long has it been since you slept?”

“Let’s see 52 vargas, 30 doboshes and…” He looked down at his empty wrist, “27 ticks.”

Keith’s eyebrows scrunched together, “Lance, you need to sleep, no wonder your having such crazy dreams, you’re sleep deprived.” He put his hands on Lance’s shoulders and guided him to his makeshift bed. “Get some sleep, we can talk when you’re rested.”

Lance only fought him a little, closing his eyes the second his head hit the pillow. Keith chuckled, reaching his hand out and brushing back a stray piece of hair from his tanned skin.

Keith made his way back to the controls and called to the others, “You guys haven’t forgotten about me yet, have you?”

“KEITH!” They all yelled.

“About time, Lance hasn’t shut up about you since you two got back,” Pidge said from green.

Hunk in yellow with Romelle, “It’s so good to hear your voice man.”

Coran, Allura, and Shiro were in blue. “How are you feeling?” Shiro asked.

Keith sighed, “I’m doing good, Lance is passed out in the back, apparently no one made sure he slept.” Silence fell over the coms. Keith could tell they had been neglecting him again, ignoring him and what he needed. “Listen, I know Lance can be a lot to handle sometimes, but he’s a crucial part of this team, he’s our friend, no family, and we need to start treating him that way.”

Keith’s words rang throughout the Voltron crew, everyone dropping their gazes to the floor. “If he wouldn’t have taken initiative and flown black, Sendak would have killed me.”

“Keith…” Shiro paused for a moment, “I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re truly sorry.”

“Yes.” Allura chimed in

“Yeah sorry.” Pidge groaned.

“How can I even call myself his friend, I’ll have to cook him one of my apology dinners.” Hunk cried.

“That’s all great, but I think you’re all saying this to the wrong person.” Keith looked back at the makeshift bed in the corner. Lance Tried not to move, holding back tears, he wasn’t ready to let Keith know he had heard everything, not yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know this one is short but the next chapter is going to be a lot of fun.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting to this site, so let me know how I'm doing in the comments. I accept any and all criticism. I might continue with an "after they get back to the others" part, but I'm not sure yet.


End file.
